Original Review:

Show Rating:

Spencer Brown is the epitome of the annoyingly zany 'wit' that every office boasts ­ or at least that's the persona he plays up to on stage.

Dressed in fluorescent shirt, silly tie and crumpled suit, his 'look at me, I'm so whacky' attitude projects the same desperation to be liked as any madcap Martyn from human resources.

Not only that, he also has the same virginal naivety you might associate with such a worldly-unwise, inherently lonely demeanour, allowing an eager innocence to permeate his material.

He's someone who's frenziedly enthusiastic about everything ­ from a bus arriving on time to the delights of the whoopee cushion, animatedly leaping about the stage with glee at his own invention.

But unlike the office joker, Brown has some solid gold gags to back up this forced jollity, playing with some silly ideas and creating more than his share of gilt-edged one-liners.

He's a fine physical comic too, as demonstrated with the unselfconscious verve he acts out the most ridiculous of scenes. And he reveals an impressive baritone during his impressive piece de resistance ­ a Gothic tale of a Jules Verne-style industrial age contraption subtly entitled Mechanical Fuck Beast.

With all this talent going for him, it's a disappointment that the show is only good, not great. There are moments of inspired brilliance, but as a whole it doesn't stack up.

Some of the problem lies with that insincere persona, which creates something of a barrier between audience and material, even if that barrier does slowly erode as we become accustomed to Brown's ways.

He has an off-kilter delivery, too, often exposing a gap between they way he sells gags hard, and what they actually deliver; while elsewhere great lines are underplayed.

Other times, the set pieces don't quite come off. A surreal bongo-accompanied poem about a camera-faced boy, which emerges as a Swiftean satire on reality TV, is quirky and interesting but way too long ­ a fact Brown acknowledges by offering us an occasional countdown of its running time.

There is plenty to love here, especially if you're seeking something juvenile as the antidote to many of the more serious-minded comics on the Fringe. It's just not all up to the high standard he sets himself.